Tag: WGC

PGA Tour: WGC Cadillac Championship Preview

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

The exclusive World Golf Championship events limit the field to just the top 5o golfers in the World.  In prior years they could have gotten away with just inviting Tiger Woods.  He won 16 of the first 32 WGC events.  However, without Tiger, or even with Tiger in current form, the others are needed.  Especially when the others include Rory McIlroy.

The first WGC event of the year is the Cadillac Championship, hosted by Donal Trump, at Blue Monster, Doral.

Check out our preview of the event, and the best picks to win, below:

The Course

Trump Week on the Tour gets bigger with the WGC event at National Doral.   The gorgeous South Florida layout is a 7,528 yard, par 72 course, and is a recent recipient of a $200 million upgrade, as the Don adds to his golfing portfolio.  The upgrade has made the course incredibly challenging; it played 3rd toughest on the Tour last year.  The course is nicknamed “Monster” due to its demanding 18th hole.  Water all down the left off the tee and on approach.  Expect some big scores on 18 and generally.

The Sound Bites

“It’s not that big a deal. I did it for a long time, too, that way. I’m just going to do it and see what happens. I think the important thing for me will be to just stay patient with it for a little bit” – Adam Scott’s move to a shorter putter starts this week.

“If I was going to miss a weekend, it wasn’t a bad one to miss, being at home and with all the delays and everything” – Rory McIlroy saw a silver lining to missing the cut last week.  Punters didn’t.

The Defending Champion

Patrick Reed became the youngest winner of a WGC title last year by going coast to coast over Bubba Watson and Jamie Donaldson.  Reed managed a 4-under total on the newly designed course, the highest winning total since 1985.  Reed comes in at $26.00 to defend his title.

The Contenders*

Rory McIlroy – $6.50

Bubba Watson – $15.00

Jason Day – $17.00

Dustin Johnson – $21.00

Adam Scott – $23.00

Paul Casey – $34.00

Jamie Donaldson – $41.00

*WGC Cadillac Championship odds courtesy of Sportsbet.

The Winner

Casey’s had a third and a playoff loss in his last tow starts; Donaldson was a narrow loser here last year; Johnson was fourth here last year on the new course and had top 5’s the last two weeks; Watson has been solid all year without getting a win, he’s due. We like Johnson the best

PGA Tour Round Up

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

Two tournaments to review this week on the PGA Tour.  One featuring a classy field at a difficult Shanghai course, and the other, a rather boring field at a relatively unnoticed second tier event where a 17-year-old (Camden Backel) commanded the biggest gallery.

WGC HSBC Championship

A par five eighteenth makes for a gripping conclusion to golf tournament.  That’s the conclusion from the recently concluded WGC event in Shanghai.  Oh, and Bubba Watson is crazy; we also concluded that.

The 18th was the theatre of an epic ending to a tournament for the most part of the week seemed to be heading the way of Graham McDowell.  However, the leader in all of the first three rounds succumbed to some breathtaking shotmanship from the unorthodox Bubba Watson who made eagle down the 72nd and then birdied the first playoff hole to beat South Africa’s Tim Clark.

In fact Bubba’s last five holes included an eagle, a birdie, a par, a bogey and a double bogey as he did his best to butcher the two shot lead he held on 16.  To avert disaster Watson needed something special.  A 60 yard downhill bunker shot for eagle was exactly the tonic.  The eagle helped him tie Tim Clark, and when Martin Kaymer (73); Rickie Fowler (70); and Hiroshi Iwata (72) all failed to make an equalling birdie the field became two.

Watson birdied again after Clark had left his 25ft birdie putt short to win his seventh PGA Tour title.  In doing so he became the 14th player to win a major and a WGC event.  The winnings also included 500 FedEx Cup points and $1.4 million.  The Watson win means he becomes the highest ranked American golfer.

Watson joked with his caddie before holing the final bunker shot; his caddie is quoted as saying “It’s been a miserable couple holes here, but this will change everything if it goes in,” an approach that is likely to be adopted by amateur hacks in their weekend games.

Sanderson Farms Championship

The regular PGA Tour event was far more sedate.  A quiet two shot victory to Canadian Nick Taylor failed to match the golfing pyrotechnics that the best in the World were putting on in Asia.

However, for web.com graduate Taylor, the manner of the victory won’t matter in the slightest.  His low final round was the catalyst for a three shot lead heading down the 18th.  He would make bogey, sign on a 66, and win his first PGA Tour event.  Taylor’s putting was the star of the show on Sunday; his birdie putts either dropped or burned the cup, and was in stark contrast to the efforts from pre-round favourites John Rollins (73) and William McGirt (72).

FedEx Cup leader Robert Streb had a decent week too.  He finished eight to solid his position at the top of the

Of our predictions over both events, none came through for the win but we did have a top five from Rickie Fowler.  Of the other picks William McGirt looked good throughout but faltered, finishing 7th.  Danny Lee was T51 , and Nicholas Thompson T35.  At the WGC HSBC, we chose Rickie Fowler (T3), Jordan Speith (T35), and Thorbjorn Olesen (T6).

Check back in later in the week for the PGA Tour Preview focusing on the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in Mexico.

Ryan Repeats at PGA Tour’s CIMB Classic

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Ryan Moore successfully defended his CIMB Classic title in the PGA Tour’s Malaysia stopover last week, shooting a final round five under 67 to win by three from Gary Woodland, and the highest ranked player in the field, Sergio Garcia.

Moore’s fourth PGA Tour win makes him the first player to successfully defend a title since Tiger Woods achieved it at the Arnold Palmer Invitation in 2012/13.

The 31 year old mixed eight birdies and three bogeys on route to the win, withstanding a final round challenge from familiar foe Gary Woodland.  Woodland finished runner up here last year (losing in a playoff to Moore) and again mounted a strong late challenge, but missed puts on 16 and 18 prevented him from putting serious pressure on Moore.

Third round leader Kevin Na saw his challenge fade at the 17th, after burning chances throughout the final round after a rapid start, Na put his tee shot on the 17th into a plan tree and couldn’t recover.  South Korea’s Bae Sang-moon (69) was tied for fifth with 21-year-old Australian Cameron Smith (68).  Smith has huge raps on him as a young player to watch; his week proved the undoubted potential.

FedEx Cup winner, Billy Horschel, finished tied for 37th.

Two events this week, one PGA Tour, one WGC.

Sanderson Farms Championship

The PGA Tour takes a reduced field to the Country Club of Jackson, a 7,354 yards, par 72 course founded in 1914.  Missing the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings (they’ll play in Shanghai) the event offers up a lower than norm 300 FedEx Cut points.  Without the big names the tournament again becomes one of FedEx Cup priority.  Players will be chasing cheap points and this season’s winners Robert Streb and Ben Martin will be looking to pull away from the pack.

The field is a true lucky dip of players.  Aside from the two above (Martin is the highest ranked player at 57), Padraig Harrington, Woody Austin (as last years winner), and John Daly are the main draw cards.  That’s quite saddening.

Predictions

Stay clear of this one.  It’s too tough to pick a PGA Tour winner at the best of times, let alone a limited field.  It might be quite tricky to find a bookie taking it on too.  But if you have to, consider:

Nicholas Thompson ($101), Danny Lee ($61), William McGirt ($56) or Charles Howell III ($36) all at bet365.

WGC HSBC Championship

The spotlight on Asia continues during the Sheshan International GC (West) hosted World Golf Championship event starting on the 6th of November.  Tiger Woods once called the course “the crowning jewel of all of Asian golf”, so it’s only fitting that only the top 50 players in the World make the trip.  Some will use the tournament to mark their returns to competitive golf for the first time since the FedEx Cup concluded.  Four of the top six golfers, and 12 of the top 20 join the field in competing for 550 FedEx Cup points and a ton of money.

Picking a winner here is equally tough given the quality in the field.  In fact, most of the odds I’ve seen simply list the world rankings and odds in descending order.  For example, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, and Justin Rose are the favourites; matching their World rankings.

Others to Watch

Jordan Speith – $29 – Unibet

Rickie Fowler – $21 – Luxbet

Thorbjorn Olesen – $71 – bet365